Humana Distaff

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

A solid field of nine will travel seven furlongs on the Churchill main oval
in Saturday’s $300,000 Humana Distaff S. (G1). We’re siding with brilliant
speedster SECRET GYPSY (Sea of Secrets) from the barn of Ronny Werner. A
monstrous, track record-setting winner in her debut at Saratoga last summer, the
chestnut has won five of her nine lifetime starts and has never been better. She
took the Distaff H. (G2) for fun most recently, and it will take a big effort to
run her down under Robby Albarado.

Madison S. (G1) queen INFORMED DECISION (Monarchos) has won six of her eight
career outings, including four of her last five for expert conditioner Jonathan
Sheppard. The four-year-old gray seems equally adept on dirt and synthetic
surfaces, and she could move up some in her second try off the bench. We give
the classy miss a big chance to post her second consecutive Grade 1 win. Julien
Leparoux will be aboard the Kentucky-bred.

GAME FACE (Menifee), a stylish victress of the Inside Information S. (G2)
last out, was a winner on the Derby undercard last year and deserves a big
chance for Todd Pletcher. Never off the board in 11 career efforts, the
four-year-old miss is perfect from a pair of outings at this distance and has
been freshened for this affair. Garrett Gomez will break from the outside post
atop the miss.

DUBAI MAJESTY (Essence of Dubai) is in a very good form cycle for Bret
Calhoun and ran well to finish a close fourth in the Madison S. (G1) at
Keeneland most recently. The dark bay filly took her lone try over this surface
by 5 1/2 lengths, but she beat next to nothing in that allowance contest and
will be dealing with a much different cast on this day. With a good trip, and if
one of the big guns fail to fire, she could earn a Grade 1-placing under Kent
Desormeaux.

Barbara Fritchie H. (G2) upsetter ROYALE MICHELE (Elusive Quality) has
morphed into a new animal since joining the barn of Matthew Kintz, posting four
straight wins prior to a third in the Distaff last out. The bay needs to make up
some ground on our top pick, but she’s legitimate and wouldn’t shock with a
top-three finish.

TIZ TO DREAM (Tiznow) is a beast at Keeneland, but the Ian Wilkes trainee
shows only one third-place finish from five career tries at Churchill Downs. The
late-running four-year-old sports low BRIS Speed numbers and simply looks too
slow for this well-meant field. Madison third BEAR NOW (Tiznow) has decent early foot and is capable of
running a big one from time to time, but she has no tactical edge in this field
and might be in a little deep for Al Stall Jr.

TEMPLE STREET (Street Cry [Ire]) has a nice late kick but has never dealt
with foes this classy, and she’s never posted a BRIS Speed figure greater than
89. We’ll look elsewhere. MODIFICATION (Vindication) has shown nice improvement for Doug O’Neill, but
she looks outclassed on dirt versus these.